Pneumatic recoil apparatus.



No. 838,@94. PATBNIED DBG. 18, 1906. v J. A. DEPORT.

PNEUMATIG RBGOIL APPiATUs. y

' APPIOATION FILED JULY 1G, 'IfB.

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NQ. 838,694. PATENTED DEG. 18.11906.

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PNEMATIG REGOIL APPARATUS.

Arrmonlon rILBn JULY 1o. woe.

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En. 838,594. PATBNTBD DBO. 1s, 1906. I

- J. A. DEPORT.

PNBUMATIG RBGOIL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10. 190B.

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UNITED sTiiTEs JOSEPH ALBERT DEPO RT, or Pains, FRANCE.

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. sion-that is to say, s rings operating by pistons or plungers; an it lconsists of arrangements which have for their object to obtain a very long stroke relatively to the total length of the apparatus when at rest.

The invention is more particularly applicable in cases where thc space available for A containing the recoil apparatus is limited in extent, and in particular for guns that have `a long recoil on the carriage, in which cases it is desirable to reduce as much as`possible the length of the cradle which contains the recoil apparatus and on which the gun slides in recoiling and advancing. A

The invention consists, mainly, in constructing the recoil apparatus of two er more cylinders arranged end to end in opposite directions, the piston-rods or pluiigers of which bear, on the one hand, against the movable part and, on the other hand, upon a fixed abutment, so that the total available stroke is composed of the motion of the rod or rods on which the movable parts bear and the inotion of the pneumatic cylinders carried along by the moving parts and sliding over the plunger or plungeis that bear against the fixed abutment. YThis double motion affords a length of recoil double that which could be obtained by means of a pneumatic apparatus having a single cylinder of the same length as the cylinders of the above-described construction, and having when at rest, together with its plunger, a total length equal to that of the combined two inverted cylinders according to the presentinvention. I will describe the construction of the said apparatus and its application to vguns recoiling on the carriage with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show, by way of example, a gun recoiling on the carriage having lateral recoil apparatus of the above de- Speccaticn of Letters Patent.

1906. SerialNo.3Z5.460'.

tral hydraulic brake contained in the cradle.

Figure 1 shows a side. view of the sain apposcd of two inverted cylinders E' 52 with their plungcrs e and e2. halves a -side elevation of the grin, with longitudinal lsection of the cradle and hydraulic brake, the body of which is fixed to the gun, while the piston-rod is fixed tc the cradle. Fig. 3 shows a cross-section on line M M, Fig. 2, through the middle of the rear guide of the cradle, which guides the rear end of the gun, the brake-body constituting the sliding part. line N N through the center line of the trunnioiis. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on line O O at Fig. 6 shows a side elevation of the un with its cradle, the carriage, and one of t e pneuinatic ap aratus. Fig. 7 shows two halfplans of tie gun in the position of rest and in that oil the extreme recoil. Fig. S is a sectional plan of the cradle, the hydraulic brake, and the pneumatic apparatus. Fig. 9 shows an end view, to a larger scale, of the segmental head serving to guide the )lunger in the cylinder. Fig. 10 isa longitu( inal section of one of the plungers. y Fig. 1 1 shows a plan of a modification in which the pneumatic ap )aratus is composed of three cylinders, two laeiiig on one side and the third on the other side in the opposite direction. In this figure the cylinders and pliinffeis are shown of larger diameter relativeiy to their length than in the preceding iigures. Fig. 12 shows ratus, also of la less length than the previous arrangements, and it .iso shows a section of the valve serving to charge the air into the cylinders. Fig. 13 shows the valve to a larger scale. Figs. 14 and 15 show a inodification in which the plunger is made to work iluid-tight and not the rod. Figs. 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are to a smaller scale than Figs. l to 5. Fig. 16 is a portion of Fig. 10 on a larger scale.

A is the gun, with its cradle B and the central hydraulic brake C, which is fixed to the gun. The rear guide D of the cradle guides the rear endof the gun, which embraces the Fig. 4 shows a cross-section on scribed construction combined with a censs paratus at rest, the body E of which is com- Fig. 2 shows in two Patented Dec. 18, 1906...'

a longitudinal section of a pneumatic appaplate by means of which the brake-body C rests upon the guide. At the front. the gun is guided by the cheeks G H.

On each side of the hydraulic brake are arranged two lateral recoil apparatus, (designated a whole by the letters E and F, Fig. 7.) Each pneumatic apparatus` E or lf -is composed of a central part 'Iixed to two cylinders 112 i" F2, arranged end to end in o'pposite directions, and in each of these cylinders is a piston or plunger e' egf f2.

' T he gun bears with a rigid arm lL upon the movable plungers cf of each of the pneumatic cylinders. while the other plungers e2 fl bea-r against a iixed abutment b at the rear end of the cradle B, which has openings for the passage of the rear cylinders E Fl ot t-he a paratus during the recoil of the gun. 'lhe plimgers` can either be solid or hollow. As shown on the drawings, the one rod is solid and the other hollow, c' being solid, as shown at Fig. 12, so that when this rod passes into t-he cylinder E it etiects the compression of the air contained therein, reducing its volume to that of the annular space formed between the plunger e and the cylinder.. In the case of a hollow plunger e2 the air is compressed to a less degree.

On comparing the two half-plans at F ig. 7 it will be seen that the arm ay of the gun acting upon the )lungers e f of the pneumatic apparatus will force back these )lungers into the cylinders E F after which the arm a carries back the cylinders, causing them to pass through the o )enings in the rear end of the cradle, while tlie cylinders E? F2, which are. also carried back, move over their plungers elf?, which bear against the abutment b of the cradle. The pneumatic apparatus may of course be arranged with their cylinders either in a horizontal plane, as shown, or in a vertical lane.

The p nnger of each cylinder, whether it be solid or hollow, slides within the central part through a stuliing-box K, which forms a fluid-tight packing round the rods. rl`he packing K comprises a number of elastic rings held in a slightly-enlarged socket by an annular nut at the outer end in the usual way and adjusted to the desired tight-ness by screwing this nut in and pressing them against the internal shoulder of the socket. On the'inner end of each rod isa screwed col` lar k, the periphery of which is formed segmental, as shown at Fig. 9, and which serves to guide the rod in the cylinder, the recessed parts serving to allow a free passage ol the air from the one side to t-he other of the collar as the plunger moves inward or outward.

The collar k bears against a fixed collar 1n of the plunger, as shown at Fig. 16, which is formed with an axially-projecting rim, so as to bear against the soft packing of the stufl'- ing-box K. lVlien the pneumatic apparatus consists of three cylinders, as at Fig. 11, the

plunger of the middle cylinder is preferably attached to the arm c1 ot the gun, and when this plunger has moved to the inner end of the cylinder the two lateral cylinders are carried along over 4their iixed plungers, so that the gun has a recoil equal to the sum of the lengths of the middle and lateral cylinders.

One of the pneumatic cylinders is provided at its inner end with a valve for charging them with air under pressure. This valve is shown at Figs. l2 and 13. 'Itconsists of a disk valve 11., having a projecting rim o', which bears against an annular .packing p in the seat of the valve. The rod y of the valve has a central channel r, having a lateral opening communicating with the space s under the valve. A screwed cap t serves to protect the valve. For charging the pneumatic cylinders this cap is removed, and /a screw-joint of the air-pump conduit-I is screwed in its place, so that in forcing in air the valve is raised from its seat by the air passing through the channel r and space's, whence it passes round the valve into the cylinder. A channel v, Fi 12, may be provided by means of Whic the two cylinders can be made to communicate with each other for charging. Vhen the arrangement at Figs. 14 and 15 is employed, in which the plunger-head is made to fit airtight and not the opening of the cylinder, the plunger is provided with the packing K, which is pressed against the circular rim m by means of a collar'u, screwed on the plunger. In this case the plunger e2 is necessarily hollow, and it can communicate with a receptacle for increasing the capacity of the cylinder E? containing the compressed air, if necessary. The two cylinders E E2 can also `be made to communicate with each other by means of an external conduit y, if desirable. Although the abovedescribed pneumatic recoil apparatus is more particularly applicable to guns, yet it will be obvious that it may be applied to many other purposes.

I claiml. A pneumatic recoil apparatus including in combination two opposielydirected sets of pneumatic cylinders and plungers therefor, and a valve for charging said cylinders with compressed air consisting of a packing seated inthe eiid of the cylinder, a disk,a projecting rim on said disk bearing against said packing, the seat of said packing being provided with an opening, a screw-cap for closing said opening, and means for connecting said opening to the conduit of an airpump when .the screw-cap is removed, substantially as described.

2. A pneumatic recoil apparatus for guns, including in combination cylinders with plungers arranged in opposite directions, means for connecting one plunger with the gun to Ycause said plunger to be moved to the inner end of its cylinder, the other plunger being fixed andthe cylinders being free to niove backward so thaty the second cylinder moves over its plunger, and means for providing communication between the cylinders to facilitate charging them with compressed air, substantially as described. 

